


Put My Heart In Its Place

by RedCoral



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: A bit of swearing, After 6B, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Feels, Guilt, Happy Ending, M/M, Moments of fluff, mentions of depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 00:45:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14965433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedCoral/pseuds/RedCoral
Summary: “So let me get this straight. You gave money to the guy who has literally had his heart ripped out of his chest to pretend he’s in love with me and make me break up with him so that I could move on?!” When both of them stay silent, with matching guilty looks on their faces, Liam glares at them even harder, wondering if someone could apply Voodoo curses with just a look. “Are you fucking kidding me?!”--In which Mason and Corey guilt trip Theo into dating Liam for a price and it backfires big time on all of them.





	Put My Heart In Its Place

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I have to say right now, I have no idea what this is. I don't know how that much angst came out but it did and I wrote it down. I have my exams to study for but my brain keeps on coming up with Thiam fic ideas, so there you go! 
> 
> By the way, I don't know what you think about the title. Personally, I have mixed feelings about it. If you have a better one in mind, let me know and I'll consider it. :)
> 
> This hasn't been beta'd, so any mistakes you find, I'm taking full credit for them. You're welcome to point them out if you want.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf or its characters.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

Liam is glaring at his two friends. He was already having a shitty week without Theo to anchor him and now it just got even shittier. “What?! You paid him?!” He couldn’t believe his best friend’s audacity. He should have known better. Mason should have known better. Liam should have known better than to think there was something between him a Theo, that they were all genuine moments of happiness. A voice in his head is protesting strongly against that thought, but he doesn’t pay it any mind. His anger is not letting him. Either way, he’s not really worried about himself right now.

“We thought you needed a friend,” Mason says, defensive and sheepish at the same time.

“An asshole friend!” Corey adds. He just looks guilty and innocent, a paradox of expressions that only Corey could ever pull off.

Mason points at his boyfriend as if he just gave him a lifeline, “Something we can’t be!”

Liam is shaking with anger now, managing not to flash his golden eyes at them, not having the same luck with his claws if the drops of blood falling on the ground are any indication. They are in the middle of the lacrosse field, Liam still in his gear after he watched Theo walk away from him once again. He tried to take his frustration out by throwing shots at an empty goal but it didn’t work. It had just ended up with him throwing his lacrosse stick in frustration and his friends running at him full of concern.

Now, Liam could hear the lacrosse stick cracking beneath his foot as he steps on it with more force than necessary. “So let me get this straight,” he says and watches as Mason tries to hold back a snort. “Don’t even,” he threatens with a glare and that sobers him up quickly.

Liam’s anger is boiling now beneath his skin and Liam doesn’t know how long he’ll be able to hold it back. And it’s a surprise for once. Because this time he’s not angry for his own sake, or at something somebody has done to him. He’s angry for Theo. Even if the other man was here to defend himself, Liam knows he still would have reacted the same way. He’s beyond anger at this point. He’s reached that dangerous calm before the storm that even he himself can’t know how it’ll play out. “You gave money to the guy who has literally had his heart ripped out of his chest to pretend he’s in love with me and make me break up with him so that I could move on?!” When both of them stay silent, with matching guilty looks on their faces, Liam glares at them even harder, wondering if someone could apply Voodoo curses with just a look. “Are you fucking kidding me?!”

Theo has told him about how the Dread Doctors turned him into a chimera; how they sliced open his chest without anaesthesia, just a little kanima venom to keep him still that did nothing to put his nerve endings to sleep. He has told Liam how he had felt everything, the exact moment when the first valve of his heart had been disconnected from his body up until the last one. Theo could still remember the millisecond of pain of his heart being taken out of its place before everything ceased to exist for his nine year old self.

Theo has also told him about his nightmare, about his own, personally-tailored hell. It had been one time they had fallen asleep in each other’s arms after attempting a Lord of the Rings marathon. Liam had woken up to the scent of blood, with Theo thrashing in his arms, attacking his own chest with his claws. Liam had been terrified and when Theo woke up, he had jumped to the opposite corner of the room thinking the feeling was directed at him. But it hadn’t been and Liam had taken great care in letting him know. The next morning, his mom had found them on the floor, sitting in the corner of their room, their heads leaning against each other, sleeping as peacefully as they could after the night they both had.

So yeah, Liam knows everything, at least whatever there is to know about Theo and his heart. And looking up at the people who are supposed to be his friends, he can’t help but blame them about everything wrong in the world, about everything wrong between him and Theo.

God, he needs to find Theo. _Now._

 

* * *

 

_1 month ago_

They are at Liam’s house, just came back from school the four of them. And by four read: Mason, Corey, Liam and Theo. The first two got in the living room, after dropping their bags carelessly on the ground, lying on the couch on top of each other, while the other two were currently outside in a similar position on the porch swing. Mason squints his eyes as he tries to see what is keeping them outside. Is Theo… tickling Liam?! And he’s not get punched in the face, no! Liam is actually laughing! Liam hates being tickled! Did an alien suddenly replace his friend or something?

Mason knows the thought is ridiculous. And he also knows why Liam is having the time of his life right now and not throwing a tantrum. He groans out loud, burying his face in Corey’s neck. “God! I can’t take this anymore. Just look at them!” he says without even looking up from Corey’s neck. “They’re too oblivious for their own good!”

Corey is too tired to follow up on Mason’s trail of thought, but he tries his best, “What? Who are we looking at?”

Mason slaps him on the arm and points outside, “Liam and Theo! Corey, focus!”

Corey wants to, he really does, because it is Mason talking, but on the other hand he doesn’t because they’ve had this conversation too many times. Still, he waits patiently, raising an eyebrow at Mason in curiosity that Mason doesn’t get, “So?”

“So what?” Mason frowns up at him.

Corey resists rolling his eyes at him. Instead he simply asks, “So why are talking about this again?” He moves up from Mason, choosing to sit on the couch and puts Mason’s feet in his lap. “There’s nothing we can do about it.”

Mason just smiles at him mischievously, saying, “Actually…” and letting just that one word hang in the air between them.

Corey doesn’t like this. He really, _really_ doesn’t like this. “That’s your idea face. And I’m pretty sure it’s a bad one.”

Mason is grinning excited now, sitting up on the couch, his mind going a mile a minute as he pictures things in his head, “It’s going to work! It has to! Or I’ll wear yellow pants for a week!”

Corey snorted at that, “High stakes, babe,” he says full of sarcasm, planting a kiss on his boyfriend’s mouth.

Mason literally pouts at him when he pulls back, “You know how I feel about yellow.”

Corey’s face softens at that. His mixed emotions for yellow pants are one of the quirks he loves about him. “I do.” Mason smiles widely at that, and Corey knows he’s whipped either way. So he rolls his eyes as sign of last resistance, “Fine. Okay. What’s your plan?”

But Mason doesn’t stay there to explain. Instead he gets up, pulling Corey behind him, excitement bursting out of him in waves, “Let’s talk to Theo!”

“Mase, what’s your plan?!” Corey asks as he stumbles after him.

Mason shakes his head at him, “You’ll see, come on! Now, before Liam comes back!”

As Corey looks outside he finds that Liam’s gone.

Mason and Corey finally reach Theo, where he’s sitting on the porch swing, a faint smile on his face as he stares off to wherever Liam went. Mason takes a seat next to him, “Hey Theo,” Corey is standing awkwardly beside him.

Theo looks at him with a raised eyebrow suspiciously and Mason nearly gasps in mock offense. He gets nervous around the guy, okay? He knows he has changed and all that, has a soul now and everything, but his presence can be intimidating sometimes, including the insane hotness levels his appearance can reach. Corey clears his throat from next to him and Mason tries to focus on the task at hand. Theo’s hotness is so not the point right now.  Or maybe it is, kinda. For Liam’s sake. “Where did Liam go?”

“The landline rang.”

Right. They just came from the living room. Mason should have heard that. In his defence, he was quite lost in his own head earlier. Still, Mason motions with his hands to his ears as he says, “could you maybe use your other ears, you know, to see if he’s listening? I kind of have something personal to talk to you about.”

“My other ears,” Theo deadpans, his expression unimpressed. Corey is possibly facepalming next to him, but Mason is willing to go through with this, even if he has to face Theo’s dickish ways.

Mason rolls his eyes at him, “Yeah, dude. Your supernatural ears!”

Theo doesn’t repeat what Mason said again, though he has a feeling Corey wouldn’t fault him if he did. Theo focuses on Liam’s heartbeat first, hearing him talk on the phone in the kitchen. “He’s talking to Jenna. What’s up?”

Great. Here goes nothing. “So you know how Liam hasn’t been the same after the whole hunters-thing, and Brett and Lori?” He sees Theo frown and nod, so he continues, “We’re worried about him and you’re the only one that can make him smile now, so we thought that you could maybe, like, go out on a date on with him?” He says all that with barely taking in a breath, but Theo caught it all, or at least the gist of it, because his expression is getting thunderous and Mason is actually scared he’s going die right here, right now, on Liam’s porch. He raises his hands defensively, adding, “We’ll pay for it and everything, you won’t have to worry about that, you just have to make him feel something!” _Yeah, great. Because that sounds so much better Mason._

Theo wipes out all emotion from his face, an unreadable mask sliding on that he perfected years ago. He’s sure this is a joke. It must be. “You’ll pay me,” he says slowly. “To go out with your best friend.” Mason just keeps on looking at him, Corey is avoiding both of them. “Why?”

“Because he needs a distraction. He needs someone who isn’t me or Corey and before you say it, Liam is not great at meeting new people. Look, you owe him this, okay? After everything you put him through last year, you owe him a little bit of happiness.” Mason tries to explain it as best as he could. At least it wasn’t a lie. The first part that is. Because that thing about Theo owing his is wrong and Mason is sure the universe is going to make him pay for that one way or the other.

“Really?” Theo stands up, feeling unsteady on the damn swing. He gets in Mason’s face as he says, “And how does that happiness go exactly?” Theo snaps at him. What they’re saying is ridiculous. It’s crazy and Liam will hate him for it. “We go out on a date, we start liking each other and live happily ever after?!” He shakes his head and pulls away. He runs a hand through his hair, hating them for taunting him with this. “This isn’t a fairy tale, Mason. When Liam finds out about this, he’ll kill me.” _And I’ll let him._

Mason stands up too, flailing around as he makes promises he knows he can’t keep. “He won’t find out! I promise! Just go out on a few dates, be your true self afterwards, Liam will break up with you and bam! You’re both going your own way after that!”

This is going to bite him in the ass, Theo knows that. He feels safe now around Liam. He hasn’t felt safe in a long time and he didn’t want to lose that. But he wants more. He wants more out of life, out of Liam, out of this stillness he has found himself in in Beacon Hills. He doesn’t deserve Liam. He doesn’t know anyone who does. He has seen how his face softens when he looks at Theo, how he laughs freely when Theo tickles him just because Liam called him a dork again just like he did a few minutes ago. He has heard his heart skip a beat at every touch they share, but he has ignored all that. He used to think it was best that way if Liam thought he was simply oblivious or not interested. But if he could get a taste… just a taste of what happiness felt like, just see how the possibility feels on his skin…Maybe Theo then will be able to live with himself when Liam finds someone else to be with, to kiss, to marry maybe. Because he is going to find someone, Theo knows that. Just like he knows that the what-ifs his mind creates are killing him inside.

And maybe he does owe him for everything he put him through, all the pain he has caused. Maybe this is his chance to erase it, as twisted as it seems. Theo can barely follow his logic himself. He only knows that he can do this for Liam if it means seeing him smile like that every day. And Liam won’t stand him for long. He knows that too.

This is going to end badly, Theo thinks. But maybe that’s exactly what Theo and his self-destructive nature need. He sighs in defeat, and looks at Corey before he gives them his final answer. Judging by the smile on Mason’s face, he knows what it’s going to be. “You’re okay with this?” he asks the other chimera.

Corey seems to think about it before he answers. “Liam deserves to be happy. You both do.”

Theo looks him in the eye for a moment longer, before he finally agrees. “Fine.”

This is going to hurt, isn’t it?

 

* * *

 

They are in Mason’s car, basically running away from Theo after what they had just asked him; after what Mason had just asked him. Corey is silent for only a couple of minutes before he asks, “Did you just guilt trip Theo into dating Liam?”

Mason doesn’t look away from the road as he answers, shocked at his own self, “Yeap.”

He can feel Corey looking at him incredulously, his voice holding a protective edge that Mason isn’t used to hearing when it concerns Theo, “Mase, you told him he _owes_ him.”

Mason sighs guiltily, “I know, I’m burning in hell.” He looks at Corey only for a moment before his eyes are back on the road, “But now they can both be happy!”

That defence is bullshit and they both know it. Mason crossed a line and he doesn’t want to admit it. Corey insists though, putting holes in his plan that Mason is completely aware of but also willing to ignore until they go away. “What if Theo’s right? What if Liam finds out about this?! He will kill him and us!”

Mason shakes his head lightly, “He won’t.” Mason knows his best friend. He’ll be pissed as hell, but he won’t murder them. Probably.  “And he won’t find out.” He looks at Corey out of the corner of his eye as he says, “That’s why I told him Liam has to break up with him.”

Corey is confused, “What do you mean?”

Mason looks at him like he’s dumb and asks, “Who is the only one that can stand Theo no matter what mood he’s in?”

He sees Corey frown before he has to look in front of him as the light turns red. “Oh,” he hears Corey whisper next to him as he finally gets it.

Mason almost raises an eyebrow at him. “Yes, oh. And even if he doesn’t, then he’ll break up with him and move on! See? Foolproof!”

But Corey has to spoil his fun, doesn’t he? And he does so as he asks, “And what about Theo?”

Mason starts driving again as the light turns green and says with a confidence he doesn’t really feel, “Theo will be fine.”

Somehow Corey doubts that.

 

* * *

 

It is stupid. The whole thing is stupid.

They are having a picnic at the preserve to celebrate their 10th date anniversary – yes, Liam’s idea- and their monthversary –Liam’s word – and Theo had been in charge of the food because Liam couldn’t cook even if the world was ending. Actually, the world would probably end if Liam cooked; he’d burn the whole place down or something. But Liam had to go and be a big sap and surprises Theo with a red checker blanket and electric candles because –

_“Wow, you’re killing me with the romance, Dunbar.”_

_“We’re in a forest, Theo!”_

Liam glares at him, but Theo simply smiles fondly, unable to believe how cute Liam looks when he is annoyed, how he frowns, the skin between his eyebrows scrunching just a bit, his lips a thin line on his face.

That description right there should have been his first sign.

So here they are, lying on the damn blanket, laughing because Liam is trying to feed Theo and he refuses. He bites his lips and turns away, but Liam won’t let him go that easily. He tries to tickle him at first but when that doesn’t work either, Theo clutching his sides trying to hold his laughter in, Liam straddles his waist, going for his nose but Theo intercepts his movement halfway there. They struggle for a bit, laughing and trying to dodge playful hits here and there. When Liam somehow ends up actually lying on top of Theo, his whole body pressing against the other man in all the right places, their faces only a breath away, Theo has the crazy need to kiss him. And it seems like Liam feels the same because Theo can see him lean closer, the blue of his eyes getting more and more breath-taking, taking over his whole vision until it’s the only thing Theo can see.

But something catches Liam’s attention, and Theo can see something there from the corner of his eye, but doesn’t turn to see what it is until Liam actively searches for it. Theo can see a butterfly there, hovering right next to them and it’s beautiful. The wide smile that covers Liam’s face tells him the younger man feels the same way. He can feel Liam moving, his hand going slowly up and up and he doesn’t know if Liam knows he’s moving it up along Theo’s body. But Theo is fully aware of it. It makes his skin tingle and his breath catches in his throat.

Liam doesn’t notice. He keeps his eyes on the damn butterfly and Theo can’t look away from his damn beautiful face. Liam finally has his hand high enough, resting on Theo’s shoulder, to reach out and catch the butterfly, but it flies out of his grasp and Liam falls on his face with an indignant “Hey!” half of his body on top of Theo’s stomach. Liam pouts when he realizes the butterfly’s gone and looks at Theo pleadingly, as if he believes Theo can bring it back.

And Theo laughs. He laughs with all of his heart and shakes his head because he can’t believe the dork he’s in love with.

It makes him freeze. It makes the laughter die in his throat and his body tense. Liam feels it, of course he does, and looks down at Theo puzzled, probably not following Theo’s change in attitude. But Theo can’t breathe right now. The thought keeps flashing in his head that he’s in love with Liam and he can’t help but remind himself this is all a lie. This is all happening at Mason’s insistence, at Theo’s attempt to bring some light into Liam after the pain he had caused, but he took it too far. No, _Theo_ is in too far and he doesn’t know how to handle that. This wasn’t meant to happen. Theo wasn’t made to love people, only to destroy them.

So he deals with this the only way he knows how. He pushes Liam off of him, avoiding his eyes because he knows one look and he’ll be hooked. He’ll be frozen in time, trapped in the midst of a lie that was just covering up the shuttered walls of his reality. He gets up and makes up a lame excuse, “I forgot something in the truck.” He doesn’t look back. If he did, he’d see Liam looking at him confused at the obvious lie. Instead, he gets in his track and locks the doors. He starts the engine and he drives as far away as his half-full tank can take him. He ignores the text on his phone that lights up the screen.

_Did you seriously just leave me in the preserve???_

Instead, he drives. He drives and he doesn’t stop until he realizes he can’t run anymore, until he realizes, the further away he gets from Liam, the tighter the knot in his throat gets until he can barely breathe. He pulls over and tries to think. This was supposed to end either way, wasn’t it? Maybe Theo could look from afar. They only had two weeks before school was over. Theo could graduate and leave. He could start a new life somewhere else and let Liam be happy the way he deserved to be.

As he drives back to Beacon Hills he thinks, no plan has ever sounded like a bigger lie.

 

* * *

 

Theo doesn’t go back to Liam’s house. He knows he has a room waiting for him there and Liam. Jenna is probably worried out of her mind and David is frowning every time he passes Theo’s empty room unable to understand why Theo wasn’t there. But Theo couldn’t go back. He had to keep his distance; he had to feel safe again. Not just safe in his surroundings, but safe with his own self, his own choices, his unexpected lack of feelings. He needs to take care of himself for once, because no one really cares enough to do it for him.

_Liar._

Maybe. Maybe he is. It doesn’t matter. A he walks in the school cafeteria after avoiding Liam at every corner they happened to cross, he finds Mason and Corey sitting at a table. Liam is nowhere near here, he knows. After all, he left him in the locker room when he had evaded him once again, leading him on with his scent in the place Theo was least likely to be right now.

He walks faster towards them and Theo can see Corey shaking Mason’s arm, who was ranting about one thing or the other. When he catches the look on Theo’s face he stops and they both look at him with a mix of fear and concern. Theo bangs his fists on the table as he leans down towards them, and hisses with an underlying threat in his tone, “I’m done. You hear me? It’s over.”

Mason jumps immediately into action just like Theo expected him too, but Theo won’t be swayed. He’s made up his mind. He got the taste he wanted and even though the pain was worth every single moment, he’s not willing to put himself through it any longer. “What?! Dude you can’t back out now! He’s happy, you’re-”

Theo stops him before he can say what he thinks he’s going to say with a dangerous warning. “Don’t.” He reaches into his pocket and grabs the wad of bills he never spent and throws it at them.

As he walks away his mind is circling around that word; _happy._ Isn’t that what Mason was going to say?

He misses that. He has no right to but he does. He doesn’t wish he never knew what happiness it but he tries.

You see, Theo has always looked out for himself first. He realized early on in life that if he wasn’t okay, there was no way to help others, no way to be useful to them. He knew that since he wasn’t okay, this wasn’t the way to live. Misery is not what life’s supposed to be. When the depression snuck up on him, it took him a while. But he did it; he got his head out of the water and survived. When the Dread Doctors tore his heart out, he did it again. Differently, but he managed. He may have locked up his emotions behind barricaded doors, but it worked for him. Granted, it didn’t work for the people around him, but it worked for _him._

So yeah. Theo Raeken always saved himself first and this time is no different. He doesn’t care what Mason says. He doesn’t care about the deal. He doesn’t care about the money. He cares that his emotions have found a crack to slip through and Theo is suffocating in fear of what this means. Liam has unlocked something inside of him without his knowledge and Theo isn’t going to let it pass. So if he has to get out of here to be okay again, to survive again, then he will.

 

* * *

 

He manages one week without talking to Liam. It seems like Liam caught on to Theo’s tricks. He stopped following his scent around. Instead he went the opposite way of where that tantalizing smell was leading him. He got close one too many times for Theo’s comfort. But Theo had been able to escape the other wolf.

Until one time he didn’t and it all exploded in his face.

Liam is following him and he’s so close, Theo can smell his anger and frustration without even trying. Somehow he leads him to the locker rooms. Liam probably thinks he can corner him there, that Theo will stop running. But Theo takes a turn Liam probably didn’t expect and finds himself on the lacrosse field. Good. He can get out to the preserve. Liam won’t be able to find him there.

“That’s enough!” Liam yells at him from a few steps behind, his voice a roar he hadn’t heard in a long time. Theo almost whimpers at the sound. Instead he freezes, keeps his back turned to Liam unable to move, or speak, or do anything other than turn his head slightly to the other’s direction waiting what else the werewolf had to say. Theo wasn’t fast enough. He wasn’t fast enough and now he feels trapped. He should have run, he thinks bitterly.

“What is your problem?!” Liam shouts as if he doesn’t know. And the pain, the confusion in his tone makes Theo snap. He turns around, suddenly right in front of Liam using his supernatural speed, pointing his finger at Liam’s chest, yelling in his face, “You’re my problem!” He doesn’t know if the gruffness in his voice is from lack of use or just the emotions clogging his throat every time he has Liam so close. He doesn’t dwell on it at all.

Liam reacts to Theo’s anger just like he always does. He shoves him back, “I haven’t spoken to you in over a week! How am I your problem?!” he yells back as if he doesn’t know. As if he couldn’t possibly guess after the way they left things; the way Theo left things.

They haven’t spoken at all this past week, that much was true, but Liam has always been there, hasn’t he? He has been there in his periphery, just a step in the wrong direction and he’d be in his direct line of sight. Liam is always there and that’s the problem. Theo can’t escape. He’s tried. Even if Liam isn’t physically there, he’s in Theo’s head. Their memories are taunting him with what he can’t have, with what he doesn’t deserve. This was all a lie and Theo was a fool to believe it could ever be anything than that, that he’d get out of this unscathed with his heart in the right place. He was wrong to believe he could do this to Liam and just walk away. Liam is better than him in all the ways that matter. Liam has brought him back from the brink of insanity many times that he knows nothing about. He doesn’t deserve to have someone like Theo in his life, to feel for him, worry about him, fight for him. Liam is too good to ruin like that.

But he can say none of that, can he? Liam wouldn’t understand. Or maybe he would, just a little too much. So instead he warns him, “Just leave me alone.” And if his voice was a bit more broken than he wanted it to be, none’s the wiser. He bumps his shoulder into Liam violently, and leaves towards the parking lot.

He can’t go on like this. He has to get out of here. He has to get out of Beacon Hills.

 

* * *

 

Liam stands there staring at Theo’s retreating back for a lot longer than it is visible. He hears the truck’s tires skid on the asphalt, and he still can’t move. He’s angry, yes. But he’s also hurt. He’s hurt because Theo had left him in the middle of the preserve with the remnants of their picnic, of their laughter, surrounding him. He’s hurt because he had stayed awake that night and Theo didn’t come home. He didn’t come home either the rest six days Liam had been waiting for him. Every night after his parents fell asleep, Liam would sneak in Theo’s room and lie on his covers, chasing a scent that was fading away.

So, yeah, Liam’s hurt because Theo doesn’t want to see him, and from what he got a minute ago, he doesn’t want to speak to him either. Liam’s wolf is restless, begging for something that Liam didn’t know he had lost and doesn’t know how to get back.

He moves suddenly. He goes to the locker room and puts on his gear. He takes his lacrosse stick and a few balls and goes outside to throw shots at the empty goal. A couple of them rip the net.

Liam doesn’t really care.

He keeps on shooting the ball using more force than the last time but it’s not enough.

 _Nothing_ feels enough. It makes his snap and roars in frustration, throws the damn lacrosse stick at his feet, somehow snapping it in the process. He hears footsteps running towards him and he looks up, hoping it’s Theo. He’s disappointed when he only sees Mason and Corey. He loves his friends, he does, but they’re not who his heart is missing right now.

“Dude, what happened?!” Mason asks worried, puts a hand on his arm and Liam takes a step back at the touch.

It’s not Theo. He can’t take it unless it’s Theo. “Theo,” he sighs, as if the name is enough of an explanation in itself. It probably is because he looks at his friends, and something feels wrong. Corey is avoiding his eyes, and Mason… Liam has known Mason since they were very little and he can read his friend like an open book after all those years. “Mason.” He growls in a warning that no lies will fly by this time. And judging from Mason’s expression, he knows that. “What did you do?”

You all know what happens next. Now all that’s left is for Liam to find Theo in time. He prays he does.

 

* * *

 

He finds Theo in his room, the one Liam’s parents made especially for him. With one blue wall and the rest a light grey, saying he could hang up whatever he wanted. Theo never took that chance. Liam’s standing in the doorway and Theo is frantically putting clothes, the amount of which don’t fit anymore, in the duffel bag. He knows Theo knows he’s there. He saw him tense up a moment ago but he still hasn’t stopped.

Liam is scared. For the first time in months he’s scared for his life but not because of a supernatural threat. He’s scared because he thinks Theo is leaving for good and Liam doesn’t know what his life is going to be without him. He doesn’t want to know. “I’m sorry,” he says hoping that does something, maybe puts a piece back on the bridge that broke between them. “About them,” he adds because he can’t have Theo thinking he’s sorry about anything else, about the time they spent together, about everything they shared.

Theo doesn’t speak. He doesn’t know what to say. _Yeah, me too?_ He had agreed to this, hadn’t he? He’s as much to blame as Mason and Corey. And saying he’s not sorry either is not true. He’s sorry for hurting Liam, for hurting himself, for ruining whatever they had. He’s sorry he can’t stay. But none of those words come out. Instead, he keeps on moving around the room, picking up things he can’t bear to leave behind.

Liam can’t take the silence anymore, the apathy. He feels like everyone must have felt in the Wild Hunt, forgotten, let go by the people that were supposed to keep them on the forefront of their minds. “Stop this!” he shouts and that surprises Theo enough for him to look at Liam. “Stop pushing me away! You think I don’t know?!” he says, because he does, he knows so many things that have been ignored by them both and Liam wants to acknowledge them for once. If Theo is leaving, Liam is not going to stay back wondering _did he really?_

“Know what?” Theo says before he can stop himself. Theo is scared of what he’ll hear, but at the same time he feels like he’ll die unless he does.

Liam takes a deep breath and takes one step forward in the room, gaining courage when Theo doesn’t take a step back. “I know,” he says, his words careful but his tone heavy with everything he’s been holding back for so long, “I know that what we have is real.” One more step forward, eyes not leaving Theo’s for a moment. “I know that every single thing you’ve said to me is true.” He looks at the duffel bag on the bed just for a moment and realizes something else. “And I know that you didn’t stay because Mason paid you.”

Theo snorts at that. And ugly sound that leaves his throat before he knows it. “Oh yeah? Then why did I stay?” Hi voice is full of sarcasm that leaves him feeling empty inside, hollow. Liam is the only one that knows Theo better than he knows himself, and now that he’s confronted with the fact, he’s terrified of what that means, of how his life changed from being hated to being trusted this much.

Liam is standing right in front of him. He wants to touch Theo, caress his cheek, feel his pulse under his fingertips, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t think his touch will be welcomed right now. Theo looks terrified, like he’s begging Liam to not speak and at the same time say everything they’ve both wanted to say for so long. Liam can understand that feeling, “Because you have feelings for me,” he says and Theo freezes. His eyes get watery and his body is trembling with something Liam doesn’t know how to fix. It hurts to see him like that. He wants to take the pain away. Maybe, what’s coming next will help. “Just like I have feelings for you.” That makes it worse somehow, but Liam knows it’s the fear and the self-loathing Theo has wrapped around him like a blanket. It makes him brave enough to inhale strongly once and admit, “And I know that those feelings run deep, deeper than you ever expected them to, and I know it scares you enough to make you leave.”

Theo can’t hold the emotions back anymore. He’s looking at Liam through blurred eyes and everything he said, hit him everywhere that hurts. He lets one tear go, thinking that maybe this will make it better, that it will calm his emotions inside of him or something until he’s alone. But as he feels it run down his face, another one follows, one that he didn’t give permission to leave. “How do you-” _know_ he wants to ask, but the word doesn’t come up.

Liam understands though. He always does. “Because it makes me feel the same. Sometimes,” he pauses. He wants to admit something and he prays Theo doesn’t take it the wrong way. “Sometimes I wanted to run whenever I saw you. I wanted to keep walking or cross the street, or run to the preserve. But then you’d smile at me and I couldn’t move.” He steps even closer now, their chests almost touching, but no other attempt for contact is made. “I didn’t leave. And I hope you won’t leave either.”

Theo shakes his head frantically, the tears leaving freely now, “Liam, I can’t-” _stay._ Can’t he though? If Liam is right, if Liam is telling the truth, then can’t he? Isn’t that what he always wanted? Wasn’t that taste he got the future he always wanted to have? Liam was offering that. Can Theo forgive himself enough to stay?

Liam touches him then. He can’t hold back anymore. He raises a hand to Theo’s cheek and he exhales in relief when he feels Theo lean against it. “I won’t force you to stay.” Now Liam’s choking up too. Because he won’t force Theo to do anything. He knows that if Theo picks up this bag right here right now and walks out, Liam won’t follow. And it hurts. The thought hurts. Just the conjured image in his head feels like a knife twisting inside of him. But the truth is, “But if you do, I want to give this a chance. Us,” he says and steps even closer, their bodies touching now just like they have many times before. But this one felt different. Now they are separated by chasm and Liam is waiting for Theo to jump to his side.

Theo can’t hold back anymore. He grabs Liam’s face between his hands and kisses him. It’s different than the other kisses they’ve shared. This feels real. This feels mutual. This feels like diving in the ocean and only Liam’s arms are holding him afloat and Theo doesn’t mind. He _trusts_ him. He feels _safe_ with him, the safest he’ll probably ever be. He lets go this time. He can feel the emotions swirling inside but he’s not afraid because Liam is holding him and nothing can go wrong when he does. Liam protected his heart from Tara, from his claws. Theo trusts him enough to protect it from itself.  

 

* * *

 

In case you were wondering, Mason wore yellow pants for a week and he was miserable every moment he was wearing them. Corey resisted saying ‘I told you so’, just barely. Theo is laughing freely again, and Liam is having the time of his life being tickled as this was now their resolve to their arguments. So really, there is nothing more any of them could ever ask for. 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Um... at least they're happy? I really hope you liked it!   
> [My tumblr](http://puddingwillbeouralways.tumblr.com/)
> 
> -RC


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